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A virus (from the Latin virus meaning toxin or poison) is a sub-microscopic infectious agent that is unable to grow or reproduce outside a host cell. Viruses infect all cellular life. The first known virus, tobacco mosaic virus, was discovered by Martinus Beijerinck in 1899, and now more than 5,000 types of virus have been described. The study of viruses is known as virology, and is a branch of microbiology.
Viruses consist of two or three parts: all viruses have genes made from either DNA or RNA, long molecules that carry genetic information; all have a protein coat that protects these genes; and some have an envelope of fat that surrounds them when they are outside a cell. Viruses vary in shape from simple helical and icosahedral shapes, to more complex structures. They are about 100 times smaller than bacteria. The origins of viruses are unclear: some may have evolved from plasmids—pieces of DNA that can move between cells—while others may have evolved from bacteria.
Viruses spread in many ways; different species of virus use different methods. For example, plant viruses are often transmitted from plant to plant by insects that feed on sap, such as aphids, while animal viruses can be carried by blood-sucking insects. These disease-bearing organisms are known as vectors. Influenza viruses are spread by coughing and sneezing, and others such as norovirus, are transmitted by the faecal-oral route, when they contaminate hands, food or water. Rotavirus is often spread by direct contact with infected children.Viruses can be transmitted through sex ( so for you sicko's, having sex with your zombified girlfriend might make you infected.)
Not all viruses cause disease, as many viruses reproduce without causing any obvious harm to the infected organism. Some viruses such as HIV can cause life-long or chronic infections, and the viruses continue to replicate in the body despite the hosts' defence mechanisms. However, viral infections in animals usually cause an immune response, which can completely eliminate a virus. These immune responses can also be produced by vaccines that give lifelong immunity to a viral infection. Microorganisms such as bacteria also have defences against viral infection, such as restriction modification systems. Antibiotics have no effect on viruses, but antiviral drugs have been developed to treat life-threatening infections.
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Parasitism is a type of symbiotic relationship between two different organisms. The parasite benefits from a prolonged, close association with the host, which is harmed. In general, parasites are much smaller than their hosts, show a high degree of specialization for their mode of life and reproduce more quickly and in greater numbers than their hosts. Classic examples of parasitism include the interactions between vertebrate hosts and such diverse animals as the tapeworms, flukes, Plasmodium species and scabs.
The harm and benefit in parasitic interactions concern the biological fitness of the organisms involved. Parasites reduce host fitness in many ways, ranging from general or specialized pathology (such as castration ouchhhh ), impairment of secondary sex characteristics, to the modification of host behaviour. Parasites increase their fitness by exploiting hosts for food, habitat and dispersal.
Although the concept of parasitism applies unambiguously to many cases in nature, it is best considered part of a continuum of types of interactions between species, rather than an exclusive category. Particular interactions between species may satisfy some but not all parts of the definition. In many cases, it is difficult to demonstrate that the host is harmed. In others, there may be no apparent specialization on the part of the parasite, or the interaction between the organisms may be short-lived. In medicine, only eukaryotic organisms are considered parasites, to the exclusion of bacteria and viruses. Some branches of biology, however, do regard members of these groups to be parasitic.
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The Bacteria are a large group of unicellular microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals. The name derives from the Greek βακτήριον, baktērion, meaning "small staff".) Bacteria are ubiquitous in every habitat on Earth, growing in soil, acidic hot springs, RADIOACTIVE waste, water, and deep in the Earth's crust, as well as in organic matter and the live bodies of plants and animals. There are typically 40 million bacterial cells in a gram of soil and a million bacterial cells in a millilitre of fresh water; in all, there are approximately five nonillion (5×1030) bacteria on Earth, forming much of the world's biomass. Bacteria are vital in recycling nutrients, with many important steps in nutrient cycles depending on these organisms, such as the fixation of nitrogen from the atmosphere and putrefaction. However, most bacteria have not been characterized, and only about half of the phyla of bacteria have species that can be cultured in the laboratory. The study of bacteria is known as bacteriology, a branch of microbiology.
There are approximately ten times as many bacterial cells as human cells in the human body, with large numbers of bacteria on the skin and in the digestive tract. Although the vast majority of these bacteria are rendered harmless by the protective effects of the immune system, and a few are beneficial, some are pathogenic bacteria and cause infectious diseases, including cholera, syphilis, anthrax, leprosy and bubonic plague. The most common fatal bacterial diseases are respiratory infections, with tuberculosis alone killing about 2 million people a year, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. In developed countries, antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections and in various agricultural processes, so antibiotic resistance is becoming common. In industry, bacteria are important in processes such as sewage treatment, the production of cheese and yoghurt through fermentation, as well as biotechnology, and the manufacture of antibiotics and other chemicals.
Once regarded as plants constituting the class Schizomycetes, bacteria are now classified as prokaryotes. Unlike cells of animals and other eukaryotes, bacterial cells do not contain a fully differentiated nucleus and rarely harbour membrane-bound organelles. Although the term bacteria traditionally included all prokaryotes, the scientific classification changed after the discovery in the 1990s that prokaryotic life consists of two very different groups of organisms that evolved independently from an ancient common ancestor. These evolutionary domains are called Bacteria and Archaea.
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My point with all these definitions that i would like to bring up is, which do you think the outbreak is more likely
to be.? You think of a zombie outbreak as a virus, but the outbreak could also be a parasite or a bacteria strand that is immune to all antibotics.. Keep in mind, that rabies is a virus. And as most of us know, rabies is the closest thing to the aggressivness of a zombie virus, parasite, or bacteria.. you decide....
Resource --- wikipedia.org
--/"I jus saw a dead person walking"/-- |
i guess i'll be the first to jump in
well the term Zombie Virus is mainly conjured by Hollywood. This is proven by the awkwardness of "zombie parasite" and "zombie bacteria", they sound weird because were used to the stereotype. Now as for your wall of text which almost put a hole in my ship as i tried to go around.
I got flashbacks of Quake 4 and Half Life when i read through the parasite category, but i do see the idea of a parasite being much more likely, ESPECIALLY when i read through the part that stated the parasite can even alter the behavior of the host body. I'm going to make a comparison and i hope you can hang with me when i do it.
In Quake 4 the hostile alien race is known as the Strogg, they are created by combining humans with machinery in a gruesome and bloody procedure, the key part is that there are several implantation made into the head, from what i remember it was specifically the eyes, the ears, and the brain. The future Strogg is then under the control of the upper being for a designated amount of time (i think about 2 days) in which they are conscious of what they are doing, but can't do anything to stop it. After that two day period they are completely under the control of the upper being.
I'm making the connection of the upperbeing equating to the parasite and the host being the...well the host
The same thing is true in Half life except an alien parasite attaches to the head of the host and dominates the nervous system of the host. Both mutating the physical make up of the host and dominating the hosts motor functions. Unfortunately for the host they are eternally aware of what they're doing without the control over it.
Basically what i'm getting at is that I believe that the term Parasite would be best, albeit the parasite would be extremely long term if not permanent. Also even though I'm attempting to narrow the term down to one definition, there are still several different forms of it.
The host could be completely aware of what they're doing, but can't ignore the urges to eat
The host could be conscious but helpless for a small amount of time but then lose their being
The host could be completely unaware from the moment they turn
I believe the easiest to cure would be the second of the 3, but i believe that the time in which they're conscious of what they're doing would be the time in which they could be saved. Without doubt the most difficult would be the first in my mind, because that's exactly what it would destroy, if the host realized what they've done, over and over. I believe it would break their sanity and at that point they would only live for the parasitic urge.
Didn't expect to type NEAR that much
i deffinetly agree with the parasite theory.
But like you said, Hollywood obviously doesnt.
--/"I jus saw a dead person walking"/--
RE:4 is based on the parasite theory. its a good theory, more feasible than a virus or bacteria i think but i'll prepare for all thanks.
Winning isn't a reason to get a reward but one less poke in the eye, while losing gets you two.

There's also the movie Slither which is about space slug things that enter your body and alter your behavior and make you hungry, which lead the hosts to constantly consume food, which ended up boing human flesh. As for the hosts conciousness of their actions it would be the first of the definitions box stated, where they know exactly what they're doing but they can't stop themselves.
oh it'll get you somewhere, it'll get you bait